Letters From Iroh
by simplysato
Summary: My first attempt at a fanfic basically covers the story of Britta, my Legend of Korra OC (original charatcer) and her relationship with General Iroh II. It includes a ton of LOK characters, but it is mainly based around my OC . It's fun, but not canon stuff. The story follows Britta's writings to Iroh, and how she comes to terms with her identity, and less-than-perfect self-image.
1. Chapter 1- Letter

_Dear Britta, _

_It has been a while since I last wrote to you. I have had so much to say, and so little time to write. I found the time in between the solstice's passing and the current day. It is mid-day, the sun is at its zenith, and realistically, I should be training now. Firebending training has gotten less rigorous since my grandfather's re-introduction of classical techniques, yet I still find it difficult to rise in the morning so early for the duties of the ship, and then engage fully in training by noon. Surprisingly, it is cold here, though the sun bets strongly upon the deck of the ship. We are closing in on the northern water tribe, to plan a visit with the avatar. The icy blue waters remind me of our last encounter. I will always remember that day fondly. The sun on that day shone brightly as well, though it was warm, warm on the sands of the beach. You remember don't you? Can you find the time to write me back this time? I miss your frequent correspondence. I know tings are busy now for you, with your brother getting married. I know you most likely don't want to waste your time pursuing me, or whatever you think of me. My offer still stands. Please Consider it, and write me back soon._

_ With Love, _

_ General Iroh II_

I looked down at the letter in my hand, wet again from my immediate neglect to dry my hands before eagerly, yet cautiously opening it. Iroh. He always wrote to me at the worst times. Matki was getting married. I was happy with my entire family around again. I was _home. _I couldn't leave my family again. Not again. No. No. _No. _I squinted my eyes shut, thinking back to the _encounter _Iroh mentioned in the letter. That wasn't the first time we met. It was a happier time than the first, but it wasn't _sad _the first time either. What was it with this man? He was nice, loyal, brave, and so far away. I looked into the sky. Here, it was mid-evening. The sun was just starting to dip below the mountains, and a slight chill blew in from the north. Little blips of fire-fly light speckled the scene. I could smell the roast my father was cooking on the balcony of the deck of my family's house. I wasn't that hungry. Sometimes the smell of food is better than the taste. I looked down at my feet. They were muddy, yet somehow warm. At least I had remembered to warm them up after I practiced the same move I couldn't get down. It wasn't snowing here, but I still was highly interested in attempting to make the water-runner board with my bending. "Iroh is all the way in the northern sea, and I'm stuck here, trying to waterbend a nonexistent peiice fo ice. Great. Im the winner in this situation." I mumbled to myself. I glanced to my left, and saw my brother matki approaching with his... fiance. "Well at least he can get someone to love him...someone that is here and not half a world a way." I thought. Matki shot a clever look over his sholder and belted "THINK FAST SIS", before chucking a glob of semi-frozen water at me.

"Ugh, Mat, why? can't you see I have a piece of paper here? You're gonna ruin it!" I yelped, using my right hand to bend the water slowly out of Iroh's letter. "The ink bled."

"Sorry Brit, I guess I was just super pumped. Dad's making his oh-so-wonderful pork-beef-chops tonight. Aren't you just _enthralled?" _

"Obviously." Dad's pork-beef-chops were terrible. He was usually a good cook, but these weren't good.

"Who's the letter from? You boyfriend? " Matki cooed, sarcastically mocking me. "you know, that one who you so valiantly rescued that day after you totally quit your job and moved back here. The handsome, sexy, valiant, wonderful am-"

I had a small amount of water still in my waterbending back, which I managed to chuck at Matki's head. I froze it over his mouth, but, like always, that didn't last for long. He melted it without even lifting a finger.

"Watch it sis. You know I could whoop your ass without even trying. Don't push your luck."

"I used to beat you up all the time. When did you get so good at watebeneding? you used to not care about it at all. I spend most of my days here learning about spirits, and meditating, and practicing forms till my arms are sore. You don't even lift a finger and you'be bloodbent so many hamster-gerbils into submission that I think you've turned into a Noatak-ish jerk who doesn't care about ANYTHING! I try so hard and you...you just...excel wothout douing ANYTHING! I hope one day I get something on you. I really do. " My voice was quivering. I felt like hitting him.

"Woah, sis. Calm down. Why sp glum? I'm getting married in a few days and Kyaala has made you her maid of honor. What's all the fuss about?"

oh. crap. I forgot about kyaala standing right there. oops.

"sorry, ky. I forgot you went out of your way to make me feel included. I really appreciate that."

"Britta, I didn't go out of my way.", Kyaala sternly said. "You're the nicest girl I know. You have such a big heart."

"my dad always says that..." I said limply.

"Well its true!" Matki said with emphasis. "You're amazing. Don't cry, sis." Matki walked over to me, putting his arm around my shoulder. "Why are you sad anyway?"

"Iroh wrote me again." I quivered. "I love him Mat, I don't know what to tell him. He writes me all the time, but I just can't write him back. I'm scared to say that I love him, but I'm scared to lie and say I don't. I just don't want to make anyone mad. He's so famous it's gross. So many girls love him. What made him like me? I suck at waterbending, and I can't even keep a job due to fear that I'll fail. Why would he like me, Mat. What could possibly..." Matki had started walking me toward the house, luring me to the food. He knew it'd cheer me up to see my dad's own face when trying to eat his terrible meat.

"Brit, you're beautiful and nice. Let me see the letter." I handed it to him, and he scanned it up and down, stopped halfway and stared at me. "Sis. Its obvious this guy thinks you're as amazing as we do. What's so bad about writing him back? What could go wrong?"

"I could loose. I could look stupid to the public. People would hate me because I'm with a man who's way better than me. Remember that one girl he liked a while ago? She was flawless. I know she dated the avatar's ex-boyfriend's brother instead, but still Mat, I look like he settled. I'm average, and I just feel like if I write him, he'll stop caring because he'll see that I'm too normal for him."

"Britta, I mean this in the nicest way possible. You are so far from normal it's gross."

"very funny. Oh okay... I trailed off, looking fondly at the moon. By this time, the sun had set, and a glowing full moon shone through the small wisps of clouds covering the tips of the mountains. I bet it looked huge out on Iroh's ship. Maybe he was writing by candlelight. Ew... I thought. sappy stuff...that's something I can't deal with either. I turned back to look at Matki. "I guess I can write him back...later... Let's go eat some burnt-to-a-crisp dead cow-pig."

"See? not a normal thing to say."

I could hear Kyaala's bell-like laugh as we started climbing the stairs up to the deck. A chill breeze weaved thought my hair, blowing it back off my face. "I will write him." I thought. "I just hope he still writes me back."


	2. Chapter 2- Recall

I sat in my room. It was late in the night, and a haze of fog covered the trees outside my bedroom window, masking the stream of golden-white moonlight that filtered in to where I sat. I had an oil lamp burning by my wooden desk. I sat, hunched over a piece of paper, trying to reply to Iroh's many letters. The words wouldn't come. I thought for a few minutes, rubbing the back of my hand with my knuckles, staring at my blue-toned wall. My room was square, and filled with pictures. A pro-bending poster hang over my bed, next to a poster of Nuktuk, an advertisement featuring Future Industries, and three United Forces posters. There were pictures of the northern lights on the ceiling above my bed, and there was a stuffed lemur next to my tangled ball of jewelry on my nightstand. My bed was square, and low to the ground, and my comforter had the phrase "Ba-Sing-Se Sail-Fish" all over it. It was a greenish color. I bought it at my university school store. I noticed a twinkling light as my silver ring that I always wear on my left hand reflected the lamp-light off of its curve. I sighed deeply and bent deeper into my hunch to begin writing.

_Dear Iroh, _

_I want to tell you how much I love you. I want to write and say that I would travel the world with you, and leave my home here behind. I want to say that I'd leave with you in a heartbeat. If you came to my house I'd literally faint when I saw you. You're the most amazing man I can think of. If I could build the perfect man, he wouldn't be as great as you are. I want to tell you how I'm scared of what people will say if I go with you. Scared they'll say you dated down. Dated someone lame, ugly and stupid. People like me here. They think I'm funny and brave. They even say I could be a firebender, because I have such a passionate spirit. If only they knew how scared I really was. Scared to say how I really feel. Scared to open up, to show my weak spots. They see me cry. They think I'm sensitive too. Honest. I don't ever tell them my true feelings. I coat everything in concessions, let them think I'm super nice, and fearless. But I'm dying inside. I'm twenty-five and never had a boyfriend. Never loved, never kissed anyone. I'd kiss you. I want to, but I'm scared to reply to you, because once you see that I'm not as brave as you think, you'll leave me behind. I want to take you up on your offer. I want to go with you, but I can't. I'd die out there._

_And I'm not sending this….._

I crumpled up the piece of paper I was writing on and tossed it over my shoulder, onto the cold wood of the floor. "Who am I kidding?" I thought. "I can't send this." I bent over and started to scribble faster, more jokingly.

_Dear Iroh, _

_I will go with you. Pick me up at dawn in the Dragon Flats borough of the City. I'll be dressed in something blue, like always._

_Britta_

_P.S.: Sorry I didn't write back. I had stuff to do. _

"No. no. NO!" I mumbled, whispering fiercely, as to not wake my brother. "I can't send that either. I'm a joke. A big joke." I sighed deeply, inhaling and breathing out as I turned to unlatch the window, which was within reaching distance. I looked out on the backyard of my house. I loved it here. The mountains sloped in steady increments, rising slowly, then falling again. It had rained the past morning, and the heat of the noon-day sun had warmed the earth. Now in the chill midnight, the hills seemed to sigh with relief, as if they had just stepped out of an earthen spa. We lived fairly close to the City. Republic City to be exact. My father and mother were both business leaders there. They took their little sailboat across Yue Bay into port every morning before the sunrise, to open up their offices. The little boat had a pretty decent motor, as our family could afford pretty nice things. We weren't rich, by any means, but we weren't poor either. My mother and father were both born in the United Republic, as were my brother and I. My mother's parents, though were from the Foggy Swamp. She liked to keep in touch with that part of her and use her swamp-bending techniques to propel the sailboat to work every morning. My father and mother were both waterbenders, as were my brother and I. This was a fairly unique occurrence, in our world. Many families just have one bender in them. I wasn't always a very amazing or talented bender, but there's been a couple of times when I was really _good. _I have to be mad to be really great at it. Otherwise I lack the energy. I remember one of the times I amazed even myself with my bending was the first time I met Iroh.

I don't remember the actual bending that I did, but I remember why I got so angry. I had taken a job on one of the United Forces ships as a navigations expert. I was really lucky to get a job like that as a freshman in college. I attended Ba- Sing-Se University, and I still do, though I get large breaks for summer, and winter. I was on winter break when I went back home- when Iroh was sending me letters. Anyway, I remember getting this job, and this was back when all of those spirits were attacking ships left and right out by the water tribes. I remember one night, really late into the evening one of those huge spirits attacked our boat. I forgot to mention that the ship I worked on happened to be Iroh's ship. Well, he was a general, so he technically had the whole fleet at his command, but he lived on this specific one, at least for that year. Iroh and his best men weren't on board when the spirit attacked that night. As all of the United Forces ships have airplanes on them, they had taken the planes off to the southern water tribe capitol to look over the escalating battle there. He couldn't get directly involved, but President Raiko instructed him to check up on the tribes, inconspicuously. So, the only men on board that night were the cooks, the maintenance men, and a few scholars and interns. Oh, and me of course. The "map-gal". When the spirit struck the side of the ship I was asleep, but shot up in bed when it happened. I don't remember much of what happened after I got up. All I remember is that it was raining, and the wind was whipping the boat around so much that when the spirit rammed into us we almost capsized. I remember there was this purple glow around us. My hair was blowing in my face. I had been growing it out that year. I remember seeing the spirit stretch itself out vertically, sort of elongating itself into a glob, and using a massive tentacle-like paw, swatting about four or five men off the ship. I remember looking to see if anyone was around to help. The cooks had barricaded themselves in the kitchen by piling crates of shark-squid against the door. _Go Figure. _I remember looking around frantically, desperately calling out for help. I got angrier and angrier until something inside of me just _clicked. _Something flared up inside of me, and I couldn't stand it. I remember feeling like I just _knew _what to do. I didn't have a plan at all, but I remember flinging myself off the side of the ship, diving deep down into the icy water. I don't remember anything after that. I just remember feeling like I had to do something. Maybe it was just because I was tired, and didn't want to deal with any sadness or military funerals or death or dying or any of that. I was so angry I remember feeling hot even in the freezing water. I remember just feeling like I could save them. Right after I dove in the water, everything went black.

Then I remember waking up. I was dressed, but not in my clothes. Well, I was in _my _clothes, but not the ones I had on the night before. Sunlight was steaming into the window. The light almost seemed to dance off the metallic wall, sparkling in the morning sun. I looked around, searching for someone. "What happened last night? Where am I" I thought. I looked down at where I was lying. I was in a really nice bed. I mean _really _nice. The sheets were a deep red, and they felt like they were made out of a silky-satiny material. There was also, like six or seven layers to the bed sheets. "Woah. This is some high class stuff." I breathed. There was a duvet, golden in color with a red trim, then under that there was a fur lining, under that, a fluffy comforter, then, two silky-satiny sheets. I looked around me, too, to see the room I was in. It was decorated simply, but nicely, and had a large fire nation insignia beautifully embroidered onto a wall-sized tapestry. On the adjacent wall, there was a slender, floor-to-ceiling length mirror. I caught a glimpse of myself in it. "Woah. I look…less than pleasant." I croaked, looking into it. Next to the bed there was a nightstand, which looked to be made out of a deep-colored wood, with green jade and gold leaf accents. On it there were two pictures: one of a woman, a _beautiful _woman, who was seated in an incredibly elegant chair, the other, a man who, though incredibly handsome, had a scar over his right eye. He was standing beside an older man, plump yet strong looking. "Wait…" I thought. "Could this be… it couldn't possibly…." I heard a faucet shut off nearby. I flopped back over and acted like I was still sleeping. "Wait what am I doing….I'd want to be awake and looking somewhat decent if the man who's room this is is who I think…." I shot back up in bed, just as a man walked into the room. He was _incredibly _handsome, and he wore a jacket emblazoned with metals, a deep burgundy in color. His hair was dark, black almost, and it was slicked back off his face. He wore white pants, which, admittedly weren't my _favorite _part of his ensemble, and tall brown combat boots. "No. That's….. That's _General Iroh. _We didn't…Oh my lord. We _DID NOT." _My jaw dropped. My eyes widened, and he saw. I quickly shut my mouth. He chuckled. I probably looked like an idiot.

"Good morning, Britta. I can see you don't remember what happened last night." He chuckled.

"Um. Did we" I squeaked, barley able to control my breathing.

He stopped laughing. "Oh um, no. Not that." He coughed, clearing his throat. "I can see you have no memory. I understand what you may be thinking, but I assure you that nothing inappropriate happened here."

_Damn. _"Well, then…" I hesitated. "Um, _why _exactly am I in your bed? This is your room right? These are your walls. And your sheets? And your pillows? And your picture of a hot guy and an old guy? And your poster of a fire? And-" He cut me off midsentence.

He laughed and then said with ease "Yes. This _is _my room. And you're here because we fished you out of the sea last night. It was far below freezing. You're lucky to have survived."

"That still doesn't explain why I'm in your bed."

"Wait. I wasn't finished." _Crap. I cut him off. _"_I _fished you out. You saved five people. I've never seen such amazing waterbending before. You're the most amazing girl I've ever seen. I brought you here because I wanted to _personally _see to it that you were okay. I had some of the woman soldiers' dress you, and I sat up here until late firebedning with help from a healer to get you better. You really don't remember _anything?" _He said, with a hint of longing.

"I remember getting really really really angry and jumping overboard. I remember wanting to save some people. One looked like he was my age. I remember a huge spirit, and rain and wind. I remember the cooks barring themselves in the kitchen… and I remember hearing the sound of airplanes. That's it."

"Well, that's good. I noticed you're highly talented with maps and charts. I have something for you to look at. Will you meet me in down on the main deck in an hour or so?"

"Yeah sure. I'm not _that _good with maps. I'm actually not that great of a bender either. What did I do exactly?"

"You were amazing. You made this incredible water spout and a massive wave and, practically fifteen water-whips and you were able to singlehandedly get all the men back on the ship while my second-in-command and I were able to get the spirit to go away. I'll tell you more about it when you come down to meet me. Get dressed. Well- you're dressed now. Uh. Get – better dressed. Uh. Not that you're nor well-dressed now. Uh…" was he stuttering? Was he _blushing? _No way. "Miss Britta, please just accept my invitation and meet me down on the main deck in an hour. Will you?"

"Yeah. Sure."

"Well then. I will see you later. Feel free to use my shower… or, well, use the one in your cabin. I would kindly extend the offer, but I don't want the men to get any ideas."

"Okay. Sure. I'll see you in an hour."

"Until then." He said with a smile. He walked out and down the hall.

I sat in Iroh's bed, thinking. "_Iroh's bed. IROH? _The man who is in charge of the entire United Forces? The technical prince of the fire nation? I'm in _General Iroh's bed?" "_Not bad, Brit. Not bad." I said to myself. "Wait- he blushed. He stuttered." I thought. "Does he think I'm something special? Woah. That's crazy!" The sun was shining into the window brightly by that point. "I better get on taking that shower. I probably look a hot mess." I said. I hoped out of the bed, and sneakily made my way back to my room, carefully making sure that at least two people saw me exit. _That's right. Look at me. I am awesome. _Little did I know that everyone on board knew exactly how big of a hero I had been. I had no idea what was waiting on the main deck.

I looked back at my desk. "Woah. It's cold in here" I thought. I had been staring out the window a while. The moon was almost sinking back down behind the mountains. A little bit of gold was streaking the sky. "I haven't thought of anything to write. I better try to go to bed." I slinked out of the chair, and started toward my bed. It was less elaborate than _his _bed, but it was super plush. I blew out my lamp and slipped under the sheets. I fell slowly into sleep just as the moon sunk fully behind the mountains and a golden burst of sun streaked across the sky.


	3. Chapter 3- Change on the Wind

I woke up to golden sunlight shining strongly into my room. It was warm, and I was sweating. Had a dream the night before about the night Iroh and I went to the beach. It was a couple months after our initial encounter, after he asked me to meet him in the cabin that was reserved for members of the Fire Nation Royal Family when they came onboard for political meetings. It was a lot prettier in my dream, but the cabin in its actual state of being was incredibly lavish and just _fancy. _I remember he invited me into the cabin like I was an actual Fire Nation Royal. I admit that Iroh and I, by that point weren't anything special, but he did call on my cabin frequently, and I admit I was writing him a lot the weeks before I became a permanent member of the crew, when I went back to the University periodically. By that point, as I recall, I had signed up for permanent classes on board the ship, so I didn't ever have to leave. I worked it out with the headmaster, since I was in line to be the top student in my class, and he wanted me to keep my job. I remember he was so impressed with my navigational tactics, and, well, the fact that I saved the General's men kind of made the papers. I remember after I got into the cabin, Iroh shut the door, and told me to put on a blindfold. I secretly thought the action humorous, but put it on anyway. He told me to leave it on for fifteen minutes. I did, and sat there for _exactly _fifteen minutes before hearing the sound of the boat docking. "Wait. Why are we? Where…" I asked, as Iroh took off the strip of fabric from my eyes.

"Look outside." He said, excitedly.

"_Wow! _Iroh, are we in the- are we on _Ember Island?" _

"Yep!" He said with a smile. "It's the crew and I's week off. We'll technically its everyone's week off, yours too. The crew, the cooks and the- err, studious people are headed to tour the beach house that used to belong to the Fire Lord. It's turned into kind of a tourist trap. If we wait here for about half an hour we can go to my favorite part of the beach. It's kind of back behind a cliff, and the water is the lightest blue I've ever seen. It looks almost like polar region water. Do you want to- or, I mean if you don't want to…" His voice trailed off.

I remember not knowing what to think. I remember that I was just so _shocked _that the General of the entire United Forces had me sitting in a room reserved only for royalty and was looking into my eyes in a really nice way and was stuttering like a teenage boy asking a girl to a dance. I didn't know what to say. So, I remember trying to be smooth. I reached out and took his hand, trying to lift it off where he was resting it. I remember after that he kind of—slipped and had to adjust himself because he was only using _that hand _to support himself. _Damn it. _I thought, jerking back awkwardly, my face reddening. "I'm sorry, Iroh. I shouldn't have done that, I should have tried to grab your other- no wait! I shouldn't have tried to initiate anything- no wait! I'm not implying anything No Wai-" I looked down. Iroh was holding his hand over mine.

"It's fine, love. Do you want to go with me? It's going to be just us there."

"Yeah." I squeaked. "I do."

"Okay. I'll go get changed into my swimsuit. You have one right? You didn't expect to not have _any _leisure on _my _ship did you?"

"Yeah. I have one." My voice was eight octaves to high. I lowered it a bit. "Yeah- I uh, have one in my cabin. I'll go put it on. I'll meet you back here in forty-five minutes." I said, with an upward inflection.

"That sounds great, but that's way too long to just be by yourself. Do you want to eat first? The cooks always make themselves a meal and leave it in the cooler. I bet they'd not notice if it went missing. How about you come to the galley in fifteen minutes?"

"Okay that's fine. That'll work."

"Well, see you then." He said, getting up and opening the door to the cabin. Right before he left, he turned back around and stuck his head in the door. "Oh, and Britta, you don't have to be so nervous around me. We've been, well, seeing each other for a few months now. I don't think you have to act like we just met all the time. Loosen up, love." He laughed and shot me a grin and turned back to walk down the hall.

I nearly passed out. _Seeing each other. SEEING EACH OTHER? _I remember sitting where I was for six minutes or so in shock, and then racing back to my cabin to get dressed.

In my dream it was different. In my dream, when I touched Iroh's hand he fell off where he was sitting altogether. Then he left, and didn't come back in the room. Instead of going to the beach with him, I just sat in the Royal Cabin, looking at how pretty it was, and how _plain _I was by comparison. I guess it was more of a nightmare than a dream.

I looked at the clock on my nightstand. It was late in the afternoon. "I slept a while. I better get up." I said to myself. I sat up in bed, stretching a bit, and slid out into the warm atmosphere of my room. "The weather here is crazy." I mumbled, before walking to the door. Before I left, I turned back to look at my room. It was nice. It wasn't _fancy, _but it wasn't _plain. _Maybe it wasn't as average as I thought before. I'd never let Iroh see it though. I sighed, and walked out the door and down the stairs to my family's living room. My whole family was sitting there, listening to the radio.

"Sup sis?" Matki asked. "We'd thought you'd never wake back up. Welcome back to life."

"I always sleep late on the weekends." I shot back. "I never wake up earlier than noon."

"Sis, since you're out of the job, and you haven't signed back up for school yet, _every day _is the weekend for you."

That's not true. I thought. That's not what I meant. I wasn't in the mood. "I'm going back upstairs. I want to try to make up my bed, and maybe get my jewelry organized."

"Don't forget to clean up the trash of your floor." My mother said as I started toward the stairs. "Matki picked up a couple of thins this morning, but you have got to hold your own around here, too. I'll help if you like."

"No mom, I'm fine. I'll clean up the rest of the stuff later." I said dejectedly as I started climbing back up towards my room. When I got to the top I stopped, sneaking back behind an outwardly- jutting piece of wall that covered the view of the upstairs from the living room. I looked down at my family. My mom and dad were sitting next to each other, listening to the softly humming music. My brother was stroking Kaayla's hair as she pet our two wolf-dogs. "They all look so happy." I thought. "They belong here. I don't" I sulked back into my room, closing the door behind me. "I'm such a loser." I thought. "I can't do anything right. It's the middle of the day, and I've just woken up. I don't have a job, I'm not in school. I'm a failure." My window was open, and a gust of wind whipped through it, knocking over my papers onto the floor. I ran over, picked them up and placed them back on the desk. A newspaper clipping slid out and drifted down to the ground. I snatched it up and looked at it. "I remember this." I said, under my breath. "This is from the day I saved the ship."

I remember that day. It was the morning after I had been "fished out of the sea" by Iroh. I remember after waking up and being invited to meet Iroh on the deck racing back to my room. When I got there, I remember not being able to breathe that well. Slowly, though, my breath came back. "I have to be down on the deck in…. darn how long did he say again? An hour? Damn. Well, I should take a shower...but I don't think I have time. Damn it." I slid over to the cabin's tiny closet and picked out my women's version of the outfit we're supposed to wear for formal meetings as a "crew." Normally, I didn't have to wear a uniform, due to the fact that I wasn't technically a soldier. For some reason, I got the idea that Iroh didn't want me to wear my normal clothes for the meeting on the main deck. The only reason we ever meet on the main deck with maps of any type is usually something involving the press. Seeing as at that point, there were massive amounts of media interest in the dark spirits, I had a hunch there was going to be some sort of picture taken. My usual outfit wouldn't do. I usually wore pants, a deep blue in color, with a short-sleeved lighter blue shirt, with fingerless gloves. I usually wire my hair down, though I sometimes just put it up in a bun with a clip with a foggy swamp tribe symbol on it in bronze. I also wore a necklace with a fire nation symbol on it, as well as earrings with little waves and a whale-tail necklace my aunt bought for me in the Water Tribe. I usually wore sandals, even in cold weather, but had a fur coat and boots that I could wear in the cold of the north. I figured the press wouldn't know what nation I was from or what to think. Like I said before, my mother was from the foggy swamp, but her family had moved there from the fire nation during Sozin's reign and sort of "merged in" with the swamp benders. So, I had a lot of connections, and didn't really have any identity at the same time. I decided it would be best to just put my hair up with my other clip, the one which matched my wave earrings, and wear the uniform. I put on some lipstick, and wiped the little red splotch which always gets on my teeth, sprayed a little perfume on, and walked down to the main deck.

When I got there, there was an even bigger crowd than I had previously expected. I maybe, at most, expected one photographer. All I did was manage to get five people back onto the ship during a storm. I remember thinking that I knew I wasn't technically military, and that my saving part of a crew could be seen as impressive, but not to the level of photographers, newspaper authors and other members of the media were there. I was _shocked. _I looked out to see if I could recognize Iroh in the crowd. I remember seeing him off to the side of the deck, next to the balcony. Stupidly, I walked over to him. "Iroh… what happened? Did someone die? I'm confused. I thought there was going to be a table with a fake map print on it like we always use for meetings with the press. What's going on?" I said with bated breaths.

"Britta," he said, walking me over to a man wearing a bluish-black coat with a camera. "I do not believe you know the extent of what you accomplished last night. This is Mr. Rahn with the Island Press. He'll be interested in this as well." He said, motioning with his hand for the man to follow us. "Let me show you what's behind this crowd of people." We walked over, and the group of photographers parted as to allow us to pass through. In the middle of the main deck, there was a huge patch of semi frozen water, seemingly mending a huge hole in the side of the ship which had been welded back together with what appeared to be metal.

"What is that?" I said, surprised.

"You really don't remember do you?" Iroh said lightheartedly. "You did this Britta."

"I ruined the ship? Oh lord, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to. I-" Iroh cut me off again. I really needed to stop rambling.

"Britta, you _fixed_ this. You saved the ship from sinking, and you saved six people. Last night"-he paused. "Hey! Can you guys step back for a minute?" he yelled at the photographers. "She's a bit startled right now. She doesn't remember that well." There was a noise of muffled apologies before he continued talking directly to me, like the press wasn't even there. "Last night you- you must have blacked out- but last night you, from what the men that remained on the ship told me, dove into the water right in the middle of the storm."

"I remember doing that." I said.

"Well, you dove into the water and you managed to corral all the men thrown overboard into a group, and blast them back onto the deck of the ship. I don't honestly know myself how that's possible, but somehow you did it.

"I must have been able to do the water-runner." I said.

"The what?" Iroh asked, taken aback that I remembered a bit more.

"The water runner. It's a move where you kind of make a surfboard out of ice and use it to bend the water around you and sort of "stand" on the water. You control it with your feet, so you're able to bend with your hands at the same time. Since waterbended rely heavily on their hands, I couldn't just be submerged in water and get people together into a group and make a wave. I'd have to be standing on the water and using both my hands and my feet to be able to create that much force. I didn't know I could do that. I've never even able to get that move down."

"Well, that's not all you did." Iroh continued. "You also managed to make this giant water spout and shoot, as the men said, multiple water-whips at the ship, freezing each one until the hole was filled. Do you know how _that _was possible?" He said, mockingly. Was he testing me? I don't think he'd…

"Well, the water spout is an interesting move" I started. "You initially make it with your hands, and then kind of switch power over to your feet and midsection to hold yourself up so you can use your arms to control water to make other moves. The Avatar is really the only person who can make huge ones, because she uses a combination of other elements and bending techniques with her arms. It's really hard for just regular waterbenders to make a huge spout and bend with the arms at the same time. And freezing stuff at the same time requires thermal control. I honestly don't know how that's possible and I'm a watebender. Well, I know it's _possible, _because great masters like Katara, Paaku and Hama have done stuff like that before, but I've never even thought about trying it. I wouldn't even begin to know how. The only think I can think of that I did was get so into it that I just sort of…. let myself go and really…flow with the element. I could never do that with my regular state of mind. I must have just released all my energy and gotten truly in touch with my element. Only a few really good masters have been able to bend while unconscious. It's something that the avatar does all the time, but she's channeling Raava. Regular benders can do it too, even without the avatar state, but they have to be completely detached from all their current earthly problems. I've only know one person to be able to do that, and he died a long time ago."

"Well, you seemed to do it. You were able to freeze the hole the spirit made when he swatted the men overboard. The ship would have sunk before we got back if it hadn't been for you. You were just floating on a chunk of ice when I landed my plane. The rain and wind had stopped by then, and the sea had an odd calm to it. The storm seemed to leave with the spirit. The"- he sighed. "The _old _cooks, who are now no longer in service with us, and some of the men you saved, who by the way, were conscious the whole time, told me what you did. I saw you there, and some of our water benders were able to bend you back onto the ship. I couldn't get in the water to pull you up, but I was able to firebend around you do you didn't freeze to death. Technically _I saved you. _I knew I couldn't get in the water, since I'm not a waterbender but for some reason, I felt a need to protect you. I told the waterbenders to go back to their rooms, and I took you to mine."

"Wow. That's really nice of you." I was looking directly into his eyes, a fiery orange-gold. I noticed some shuffling and some clearing of throats. Oh right, the press was still there. I turned to address them. "Well, ladies and gentlemen, it looks like I did save this ship. I don't know the exact details of how, but I did. You can take your pictures, now." A blinding array of flashes came at once. There were a few questions, but Iroh answered them, not me as I didn't remember enough. Then, the photographers packed up their cameras, wrote down a free ticket for a newspaper when the story came out, and shuffled out. "We must be in the Port of Whale Tail Island." I thought. I don't remember when we got there, but I remember someone said that the ship traveled a large distance when being attacked.

I looked down at the newspaper clipping in my hand. It was an odd picture to take, but I liked it. It was of Iroh and me, of course, standing next to the mended hole in the ship. We were facing each other, not the cameras. "Thank the starts the press didn't write anything about a relationship here." I mumbled. I walked over to the wall and stuck the newspaper clipping up next to my poster of Nuktuk. "I think this'll do." I said. I felt better, after remembering things. Yet somehow, at the same time, I felt worse. I was so brave and so fearless, and I wasn't even conscious to remember it. I would never, ever be able to do anything that brave again. I felt that somehow, Iroh only liked me because he thought I was tough, and brave. "He has no clue." I sighed to myself. "no clue what weak, pathetic loser I am." I heard my mother's voice, and I turned to look out my door-frame. She was standing there, outside my door. She was beautiful. Short, with light brown hair, and was holding a feather-duster.

"Lunch is ready if you want to come eat." She said.

"Um, okay. I'll be right down." I replied. "What are we having?"

"Five-Flavor soup. It's aunt Saara's recipe."

"Oh! I love that! Yeah I'll be right down." I replied as my mom walked out. I still felt bad, worse than ever, in fact, about my bravery, but the air felt lighter, and a sense of hope was present, like something wonderful was coming with the wind, sailing like a ship into harbor after a long storm. I went to my window and latched it, and followed my mother down to the kitchen.


End file.
